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“Bear true faith and allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, the
Army, your unit and other Soldiers. Bearing true
faith and allegiance is a matter of believing in and devoting
yourself to something or someone. A loyal Soldier is one who
supports the leadership and stands up for fellow Soldiers. By
wearing the uniform of the U.S. Army you are expressing your
loyalty. And by doing your share, you show your loyalty to your
unit.”

This is my first post in my
Army Values series. In the Army acronym LDRSHIP, Loyalty
comes first. It’s instilled in most troops early in their lives
when they first learned the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
I will be loyal to the symbol of freedom and justice in the
world. I will look upon its stars and stripes and remember the
sacrifices of so many who died to keep it waving and free. I will
never let it fall into enemy hands or suffer disgrace through
misuse or abuse. The flag stands for many of the other Army
Values that we’ll discuss later – honor, respect, integrity.

And the republic for which it stands. Our nation is the best
nation on the planet. Its people have perished to spread freedom
throughout the world. It had fed the hungry and healed the sick.
It has ended abuses, plunders, and destructions since its
inception. This nation is led by the people, not a dictator or
king that orders its direction. Our republic ensures that its
citizens have a voice and that voice cannot be silenced. The
Constitution which protects rights already inalienably given to
us stands as a beacon to other nations that can only hope for
what we have in their dreams – because to express those hopes
openly could lead to death or imprisonment.

One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for
all. Being indivisible does not mean that we have to agree with
the direction of our leaders or superiors. It means that we are
undivided in standing with America through good times and bad.
Our government isn’t perfect, but God has granted us this land of
bounty and freedom worth protecting. In the end, when our nation
is threatened we always come together to fight the common enemy.
We did so after Pearl Harbor and we did so after 9/11.

Loyalty in the Army is no different. Like the Pledge of
Allegiance, every single Soldier – officer and enlisted – took an
oath similar to this:

“I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will
support and defend the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear
true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the
orders of the President of the United States and the orders of
the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and
the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

In the Army, we recognize that loyalty is the thread that binds
our actions together, defines our commitment to each other, our
units, our country and our Constitution. It describes our
commitment to our family members and the families of our troops.
It enjoins us to our communities and citizenry. It also demands a
commitment to ourselves as individuals and members of a greater
team. It’s a two way commitment of both leaders and the led.

It’s easy for troops to display loyalty to their leaders. Often,
they have no choice. We are in a profession that demands loyalty
to ensure success on the battlefield and preparing for it.
However, loyalty doesn’t mean being a “yes man.” There is a
delicate balancing act that must be undertaken to ensure that,
for example, a Soldier’s loyalty to his supervisors doesn’t
contradict his loyalty to the Constitution. This is why Soldiers
are allowed to disobey unlawful orders.

When it comes to loyalty, most troops will do anything for the
Army. For example, when my unit wanted to create new shirts I
leveraged my contacts and asked a good friend and artist if he
would create our design. I got the details of what the command
wanted and a design was approved. I personally forked over $400
to pay for the second print run of the shirts to be made for the
unit. As the shirts were purchased by the troops, I was largely
paid back. I’m probably still in the hole about $100, but the
pride I see when troops are sporting them during PT or off duty
makes it easy to forget.

Soldiers display their loyalty every day trying to make missions
happen. A detail may be tasked to perform area beautification
(read: mow the lawn) and not be given the tools to “make it
happen.” Soldiers will grab their personal equipment from home –
weedeaters, edgers, mowers, and fuel for them all. It’s a rare
day that I’ve seen a unit with the equipment on hand for these
tasks, but loyalty pushes these troops complete the mission.

Where I
think loyalty is more frequently lacking is the supervisor to
subordinate realm. There is sort of an unwritten rule that
leaders are always right…even when they’re wrong. If Soldiers
provide a good alternate course of action to a leader’s decision
and the leader ignores it, the Soldier will do what he is told as
long as it is ethically, morally, and legally accommodating.

Unfortunately, there are leaders that lack the moral fortitude to
stand up for their troops when a leader’s decision is adversely
affecting the Soldier’s life, career, or mission. Sometimes the
pressure put on leaders trying to stand up for their subordinates
causes them to cave or lose principle. They quickly join the pack
and pile on the Soldier even when they know he is right. Those
leaders that refuse to bend on principle and remain loyal to
their troops and fall on the sword on their behalf are
marginalized. At that point, the Soldier is forced to rely on
other Army Values I’ll discuss later – duty, personal courage and
selfless service. Standing up to injustices by leaders and
subordinates demonstrates a loyalty to the organization as a
whole.

Thankfully, there aren’t many leaders I’ve met that fit into that
category. Troops placed in leadership are largely done so for a
reason. They have displayed these loyal qualities of following
the orders of their supervisors while ensuring the care of their
subordinates. 99% of the time, there is no dilemma. Usually,
those in the 1% are eventually removed from the Army for toxic
leadership. About 1% of that 1% continue on with the support of
those like them and are corrupted by the process. In a way, it’s
good in that younger leaders are able to identify what bad
leadership looks like and avoid it in themselves as they move up
the ranks. I have had those leaders throughout my career, but
they were only small stains on an oversized tablecloth of good
leaders.

Loyalty is accomplishing the mission to the best of your ability
even when you dislike your leaders and your unit. I firmly
believe there is no such thing as a bad unit; only bad
leadership. I always look at it as a challenge to make that unit
a better one through my example of mentorship and mission
accomplishment. I tend to always complain sideways or up and
never make disparaging comments to my troops about leaders or the
unit. I remind them that pain is temporary. If you wait until the
pain goes away, it won’t hurt any more.

For me, every day I wake up is a new day. My frustrations lead a
Cinderella life – they all go away at midnight. Tomorrow is a
fresh start with the hopes that those who have problems with me
will wake up the same way and see their own mistakes and attempt
to turn from them.

Loyalty is speaking up when you see something you know is wrong.
Soldiers make mistakes; some do so intentionally. Few are done in
complete hiding from others. So, Soldiers need to be aware of and
use the tools available to them to correct those actions that
violate our values.

Most likely, you’ve seen the stories that have surfaced of
Soldiers posing with the body parts of a suicide bomber. The
ensuing public outrage could have been prevented had just one of
those Soldiers been loyal to the mission and the rest of us
Soldiers and put a stop to it on the spot. We all know the rules
about taking photos of enemy bodies for personal use. Because no
one stood up and corrected these actions, our troops face the
consternation of those that believe these are the values we
espouse.

Besides being the convenient first letter of our Army Values
acronym, loyalty is the mustard seed from which a just and
honorable career is planted. My father always told me that as
long as you’re doing the right thing, you’ll never have anything
to worry about. You may piss off people along the way and the
going may get rough, but in the end you’ll be the last one
holding your head high.

The views expressed in this post are solely those of
the author and do not necessarily reflect the official views or
opinions of any branch of government or military
unit.